MICHIGAN ROADTRIP: The Pickle Barrel House, in Grand Marais

Back in 1914, a comic strip titled “Teenie Weenies” made its debut in the Chicago Tribune. Created by William Donahey, it was about tiny people who lived in our world—where we were considered giants.

The strip became so popular that Donahey was hired to put his little people on labels of many products that included coffee, popcorn…..and pickles. One of his ads depicted some Teenie Weenie children living in a house made from a pickle keg.

In 1926, Donahey built a life-size pickle barrel house to surprise his wife. They ended up using it as a summer home in the woods near Grand Sable Lake. It was such a curiosity, that residents and tourists kept coming to the pickle house, disrupting any privacy for the Donaheys. They eventually moved it to where it stands today, in downtown Grand Marais, with new resident/owners in 1936.

In 2003, the Grand Marais Historical Society took it over, after many years of deteriorating and lack of repair. Now, you can visit this former home, now a museum, at your leisure. See photos of the original location and original Donahey artwork of his Teenie Weenie cartoons.

You’ll find it on the corner of M-77 and Randolph Street in downtown Grand Marais, Burt Township, Alger County, in the Upper Peninsula! Add it to your northern Michigan roadtrip!